The Twilight Forest
by Detouredbe
Summary: The title says it all; this is a dramatic parody of one of my favourite Twilight Zone episodes.


**Who doesn't love a good Bambi fanfic in which any or all of the characters get to interact with and learn more about those strange, lethal creatures they call Man? If you're a fan of the Bambi films, a fan of that concept, a fan of ol' Ronno, and also a fan of the original "Twilight Zone" series, consider this fanfic to be written especially with you in mind! I'll leave the specific episode this story is based on a surprise until the end, but those who've watched the classic series may be able to guess around a third to halfway through which one it is. It's one of my personal favourites, I'll say that much. And now, to start it off with a TZ-style narration:**

"**In a pristine and enrapturing forest, a group of youths are on a casual, ordinary camping trip. Among them, a handsome young man, looking for adventure, perhaps in romance, perhaps in solitary exploration. However he seeks it, the odds are he'll find it, but there are even better odds that he will find it in a way most unexpected, for this is not just a run-of-the-mill woodland. This happens to be The Twilight Forest…"**

"Lots of stars out tonight, aren't there?" the girl, Beverly, asked, staring up at the early evening sky. She and several of her high school classmates were out camping together for the weekend, to celebrate the summer following their senior year and graduation. Her brother, Paul, and two of his university colleagues were in the party as well, mostly so that the other guys could get acquainted with some of the girls whom they'd be mingling with on a regular basis starting in the fall. One seemed to have taken a liking to Beverly, in particular, for they had flirted frequently throughout the trip; he bragging about his fitness and skills in sports and exercises, she drinking it all up with amazement. They now sat together in a clearing in the midst of some trees, a bit of distance between them and their companions.

"Uh, yeah, the stars," the young man said in a bored fashion. Beverly was very pretty but she was too interested in things he had no desire to delve into the subject of, a prominent reason why he'd taken control of most of their conversations so far.

"I'm going to take astrology this fall," Beverly commented, adding, "I'd love to be able to name all the constellations up there."

"Nah, constellations are silly. They never look at all like what they're supposed to be."

"That's completely wrong, Ronno!" Beverly turned to him, her blue eyes - so pale that they looked as austere as mountain peaks covered in snow when she was masking hurt - glinting in the dimming light.

"Oh really?" Ronno leaned back lazily against the higher part of the bolder they were sitting on, supporting his upper body's weight on his elbow and casting Beverly a lofty glance. "So when you look up and see ol' Sagittarius, can ya really see a guy with a horse's body trying to shoot at something? It's nothing more than a bunch of stars that make up a bunch of dumb lines when you connect 'em."

"If you have any imagination, you can see more in them than that," Beverly contended, raising her hands toward the sky as she mused, "you have to picture those lines in your mind, and stare past their two-dimensional forms. You have to see the hidden depth within those lines, imagine what, with a little more definition, they could be. If you could -"

"Hey, you're not gonna start singing some ethereal 'What a beautiful world we live in' song where a bunch of creatures come out of the forest and starting dancing and singing with you, huh?" Ronno joked.

"Ronno, what is the matter with you?" Beverly blazed at him, jumping off the bolder and spinning around as if she feared he might pounce on her and devour her if she wasn't on guard. "You know, when Paul introduced us at the start of this trip, I kind of liked you, right? I thought you were a nice, decent guy like his other friends. But you're just snarky and mean!"

"Aw, am I supposed to be crushed by that?" Ronno flashed his cocky green eyes at her, slipping off of the bolder and sauntering up to her. "My friend's pretty sister thinks I'm snarky and mean! Well, I can feel my heart turning to dust in my chest!" He dramatically clutched his muscular chest and tilted his head back despairingly, arm enshrouding his eyes. Guy looked every bit like the jock he was, Beverly thought, but he could totally get far in theatre and drama if he so chose.

"Ugh!" Beverly groaned, wanting to go back to camp and stay far away from Ronno all of a sudden.

"Beverly? Aw babe, wait!" Ronno called after her, but it was no use. "_Damn, she would've made a nice little pal later on tonight,_" he thought, kicking at a stone in the ground. She didn't have to be so stuck up about her already meagre intrigues.

All at once he felt an urge to just break further from the crowd. It was as if the forest had embarked on calling to him, and he had nothing better to preoccupy himself anyway. He certainly didn't want to go back to camp just yet, and face an angry Paul. He'd stand an easy chance with him in combat, of course, so he wasn't worried about that. The fellow was really smart, however, and with the menacing new bout of coursework which loomed threateningly in the autumn months just less than a full season away, he was going to need all the help he could get in order to make it out alive. How he'd even ended up in some of the complicated courses he had was a mystery to him, but it was a fortunate miracle that the academically gifted Paul Chatham was in all the same courses, for it was he who'd gotten Ronno through them last semester, otherwise he'd've flunked. As a matter of fact their relationship was not conventionally akin to "friendship," so much as it was an opportunity for Paul to test his skills in providing education for others - an asset he'd need to master if he were to accomplish his goal of becoming a university professor in diverse fields.

So Ronno listened to the call of the wild while hoping things would cool off back at camp shortly, and drifted off through the tree-shrouded forest, not caring that the sky was almost black save for the stars - though the moon was on its way, it had yet to emerge into view. It was a hot evening, and heat always made him restless and reckless. It was not long before he began to pick up his pace, blanking out everything in his brain but the ambition to see how much ground he could cover tonight, tossing the caution of bewaring animals which might prowl at this late hour or ensuring that he knew how to get back to camp to the breeze, little that there was.

As the trees began to grow sparser and the trail widened, he began to run, a primal excitement and rush of freedom roiling inside him with greater force and swifter alacrity than a tsunami racing down its epic path of destruction. He soon filled the blackening spanse of sylvan development with his light baritone as he laughed, completely enveloped by the rapturous appeal of the drug-like high his running brought upon him.

Ronno must have been running for a third of an hour when all of a sudden he felt the urge to slow down. Once he'd decelerated enough to come to a manageable stop, he stared around him. Something was not right. He didn't exactly sense danger, but there was a distinct lack of ease, a macabre, otherworldly feeling here. Was it just him, or had he been here before? He could not plainly recall ever being so deep in the forest before in his life, but there grew in the back of his mind a nagging suspicion that he was on familiar ground. As he debated this rising déjà vu, looking around himself warily, the breeze seemed to pick up, just a little bit. After a moment he noticed this, and also noticed that the wind carried with it a minorly distinguishable, but compellingly eerie sound. The more he strained his ears to listen, the more he thought he heard several, perhaps dozens of inhuman voices whispering to him. "Ronno. Rooonnnooo! Ronno!" The voices became a little louder, as if whoever possessed them approached.

"Who - who's there?" Ronno stammered, backing towards a stout fir behind him. He glanced this way and that, but saw no one and nothing, although his eyes had the spooky sensation of witnessing shadows shifting unnaturally.

When he began to hear the rustling in the bushes around him and the leaves up above, it was as if his heart had asked his brain to make room. "_I'm gonna be eaten. I'm gonna be eaten! Something is gonna come at me and eat me, and I won't be able to stop it!_" All at once something did appear, and Ronno couldn't help the unmanly squeak which jumped from his dry lips as he flattened himself against the tree, begging it bodily to protect him in any way it could.

"Who? Who-hoo-hoo-hoo?" Came the warbling, questioning call of the suspected assailant.

Ronno opened his eyes, and seeing the clear outline of the owl staring at him from the lowest branch in the tree across the trail, he at once felt embarrassed and ashamed of himself for panicking. "Just a stupid owl," he muttered out loud.

"Who-hoo-hoo who!?" The owl exclaimed, and did Ronno just imagine it or was there a touch of deep offense in its tone? It couldn't have understood him, could it?

This was ridiculous. Ronno was a big, strong guy in the prime of life. He should not be frightened by everyday things like owls. Drawing himself up straight he marched back the way he came, now fed up with the forest and wanting to get back to camp.

"Who-hoo-hoo!" There now, was the owl, fluttering down on a branch on a tree up ahead of Ronno. He might have ignored it but it seemed to stare so intently at him.

Fighting the ill ease which welled up in his heart, Ronno barked, "What do you want, Owl? Do I look like a mouse?" No, the owl didn't just nod, did it? And where was that hushed chuckling sound, like a chorus of amused folks spying on him and beginning to lose their cover, coming from? It was absurd, but Ronno felt a desperate, irrational need to assert himself, and puffed out his chest as he declared, "Well I'm not a mouse. Why, if I were any sort of animal, I'd be a stag, with huge antlers that could tear you to shreds. You and your hidden friends would think twice about bothering me then!" Boy that sounded childish and insane. Besides, what were these things he was hearing, anyway? Was he even really hearing them?

As if he'd requested their confirmation, the chorus of inhuman laughter raised its frequency, notably. Whatever was going on, Ronno knew he needed to get out of there and fast. "Screw this," he muttered as he took off down the trail. Before he'd gone more than twelve yards, a large, swift shape jumped out of the shadows just ahead of him, startling him and making him stop. He stared into the darkness, willing his eyes to make out whatever the thing was that had interrupted his escape.

As if knowing his fearful thoughts, the creature delicately crept out of the blackness it had sought refuge in, and calmly presented itself. A doe. A doe with bright, blue eyes, staring directly into his. Why did he have this uncanny feeling that he knew this doe? That was impossible, he was certain. Yet, this forest was beginning to play wretched tricks on his mind, and he was sure if he didn't get back to camp soon the forest would overwhelm him, forcing him to succumb to a rapid deterioration into madness.

Still, he was transfixed on those eyes. The doe had surprisingly beautiful eyes, which seemed to smile in a casual, thoughtful way. "_Why do I feel like I've seen her before? When have I ever been around a doe long enough to memorize her details? But she's so familiar for some reason. I - I think I once knew her really well… No! Get ahold of yourself, Ronno! Get out of here while you still can!_"

"Ronno," a young woman's voiced called, in a quiet but clear manner.

"What?" Ronno shook his head. Where had _that_ come from? "B-Beverly? Is that you?" He looked around, in all directions. His earlier annoyance at her was forgotten, and he would have gladly welcomed her company, or in fact that of anyone from their group, right then.

"Ronno!" The voice was a little louder, and a bit impatient this time. Turning around again he stared, wide-eyed in horror at his cervid companion. The doe was _not_ the owner of that voice. She did _not_ just speak. She did _not_ call him by name, which would confirm, if anything could be confirmed in this mad forest, that she somehow knew him. She _didn't! _

He was about to dash past the mysterious doe when a larger creature stepped out from behind her. A buck. Her mate, perhaps? Ronno knew that bucks were very possessive of does and would fight to the death to maintain hold of them. The buck wouldn't see a human as a rival though, would he? He sensed a prominent coolness in the buck's perception of him, could see it in his eyes, the way he stood there, staring him down. There was no going down this trail at this point. He'd have to be more strategic in making his way back to camp.

Ronno turned and ran into the trees, hoping to run past the deer and head back onto the trail later on. When it reached the point where he decided to make his play on this gamble, however, a large bird flew right up to him, alarming yellow eyes staring mischievously into his own. "Ga-haah!" Ronno dropped to his knees and ducked his head, plunging his fingers into his thick brown hair as he shielded himself.

"Ronno! Ronno, listen!" "_No! No! Go away! Leave me alone!_" Ronno mentally willed his pursuers to forfeit this frivolous game they were playing with his sanity, but they only pressed harder. "Ronno, come back to us! This is where you belong!"

"What?" He couldn't help but look up now. All around him he saw eyes glowing, reflecting whatever light was available off their lenses to enable them to see in the dark with precision a human could only dream of naturally possessing. Some were close to the ground, as if they belonged to very small creatures, a few were just below and above human eye-level, and many were up in the trees above. "Who are you? What are you? Why are you chasing me?" he pleaded.

"Come back to us, Ronno! You're not fooling anybody!"

"Not fooling - Whaddya mean? What does that MEAN!" Ronno screamed, jumping to his feet again and glaring into the eerie multitude of eyes with fright and frustration.

"You belong here, Ronno. Come back to us. Come home!"

"Wh-what? I, I don't belong here. This is not my home, d'ya hear me? This, is, NOT, my, HOME!" Ronno took off running blindly, out of the trees, across the trail, into the trees on the other side. Anywhere. Anywhere that could take him away from these strange, whispering creatures haunting him. Name the place and he would go there in a heartbeat. Where he went in the end, however, was just the opposite.

It took him a minute before he realized he'd happened into a meadow. A huge, spansive, grassy meadow, with grass stemming up almost to his hips. This was no good. Anything that might have followed him could easily hide low in this grass and he'd never know it was stalking him till it was too late. Trying to bring his shakes to a minimum, Ronno carefully eased his way through the meadow, not at all aware what direction to head in, and prioritizing above all else, living to see the morning, when hopefully finding his way back would be easier.

"Ronno! Roooonnnoooo! Come back to us! Come back!"

"_Dammit, there they are again!_" he thought, beginning to pick up pace again. _Splash! _He froze as he looked down, only to sigh as he realized he'd stepped into a narrow stream. Moonlight shone down on him from above, and as he thought to use its light to help him determine his next step, he heard once again, an echoing voice trilling his name. He clenched his jaw. This one seemed to come from below him, and as he glanced down, holding no reservation against his curiosity for the moment, he gasped in alarm. Staring back at him, reflected in the moonlight, was the image of a dark-furred buck, with eyes remarkably reminiscent of his own. Looking about himself, his terror turned into confusion as he saw no sign of a buck in close proximity to him. "_But I could've sworn…_" Ronno looked back, and saw his own, shamefully petrified reflection staring back at him. He shook his head fervently, and knelt down, splashing the cold water repeatedly into his face. "Snap out of it, Ronno!" he scolded himself. "Snap out of it, before you go completely crazy!"

"Ronno! Come back to us! You're not fooling anybody!"

"Shut up! Shut the hell up! I don't wanna hear it again, got it?" Ronno stood up and frantically glanced about, trying to catch his tormentors in the act of nearing him. He saw nothing, yet. "Just leave me alone, alright? I don't want any o'this!"

"Come back to us, Ronno! Come back! Ronnooooo! Come back!"

"I SAID SHUT UP!" Ronno screamed in an unnaturally strained voice, before bolting blindly in whatever direction his legs told him to go. As he charted the sea of tall grass with terrified speed, he finally began to see his adversaries around him. Dozens of small animals bounded in and out of sight within mere feet in front and to his sides, leaping about as if to block his path. He spun around and tried another direction, but only saw that terrible owl swoop down and begin to hover all around him. Striking out at the large bird in desperation, he took off toward a hill, only to find the doe and the buck from before awaiting him there. Screaming like a lunatic Ronno turned and ran past them, covering his face in his hands, unable to bear the sight of these persistent assailants any longer. He did not notice one of the small, bouncing creatures grab his foot, causing him to trip and fall.

"No! NO! NO!" Ronno screamed, writhing side to side, arms crooked back and enveloping his head. "This isn't happening! THIS ISN'T HAPPENING! Help! Help me! Someone! SOMEONE HELP ME!"

"Ronno! Ronno! Get ahold of yourself!" A feminine voice called.

Curling up into the fetal position, Ronno began to choke and sob. "Help! Someone! Please! Someone! This isn't happening. Help!"

A masculine voice said, "Sheesh! Can ya believe it? He's become more of a baby than when we were kids!"

"Thumper, really!" The female voice reprimanded in disbelief. "Haven't you any compassion at all?"

"Not fer him, that's fer sure!"

"Thumper, we've had our differences in the past, but he needs our help now," another, calmer male voice contended. This seemed to check 'Thumper', as the more energetic male voice was apparently called.

As Ronno continued to weep, he felt a warm, gentle snout nudging his shoulder softly. "Ronno, it's alright. You know us. It's us, Faline, Bambi, Thumper. You've forgotten who and what you really are, but we'll help you remember. We'll all help you remember." The snout moved away from him as the female voice continued, "Won't we?" There was a pointedness in her tone that time, as though she was talking specifically to 'Thumper' and pre-admonishing him from making any more callous remarks.

Ronno had stopped crying by this point, but was still curled up in the self-preserving fetal mode. The gentle snout nudged him again, this time in the middle of his back. "Come on, Ronno, get up. We want you back."

"Yeah, like we want a…" 'Thumper' said no more, all of a sudden.

"You belong with us, Ronno. This is your home. Please. Please come back," the female voice continued.

Ronno didn't know how, but suddenly the voice put him at ease. Sitting up and drying his eyes, he looked up into the kind, understanding eyes of the doe, the more reserved but not unkind eyes of the buck, and the sarcastic eyes of a rabbit standing beside the buck. No longer permitting his tortured mind any control, Ronno slowly rose to his feet, eyeing his three companions every now and then. In the recesses of his mind, he was certain now that he had seen all three of them before, though he still didn't quite know where or when.

"Don't fight it, Ronno," the buck said, in a bit of a clipped way, as if speaking so patiently to him was a tricky task. "You have to let yourself remember."

Without any control over the action, Ronno nodded. He remained close to the doe, for she seemed the most trustworthy of the trio. He watched as the buck, seeing this, made no hesitation to join her on the other side, but didn't bother to wonder why. This was all too confusing for him to process.

As they made their way across the meadow, the buck looked over the doe's head at Ronno and inquired, "Do you remember running through this meadow, with the other bucks? When my father encouraged me to run alongside him, and you wanted to show that you could outrun me?" There was an amused nature to that comment, as if the buck was privately proud of what had happened.

Ronno began to wonder why he would have been running with a bunch of deer, but suddenly, as he thought about it, an image flashed in his mind. An image depicting a massive flock of stags racing through a meadow not unlike this one, on a sunny day. He must have been in the midst of the herd, for he saw this scene from an insider's perspective. He must also have been quite young, for the stags towered over him. All of a sudden one far larger and more magnificent than the rest zoomed ahead of him, and he gasped in awe and amazement. He could tell this was the leader, and in fact began to accept that he must have seen him before, that this was a real memory. Then along came a fawn just barely shorter than his own height, and resembling what the buck he was now in the company of might have looked like in childhood. All at once a hard feeling welled in his heart, and a competitive urge throbbed in his mind. This fawn should not be able to equal his pace, he thought. For whatever reason, he seemed to harbour a hostility towards the fawn, a rivalry. Pumping his muscles as hard as he could, he galloped ahead of the fawn, and it was worth it to note that he was sprinting on all fours, like the deer around him. Suddenly the fawn he so badly wanted to outdistance pulled ahead of him without visible effort, looking on excitedly at the leading stag, who was nodding at him encouragingly, and Ronno was quickly left behind with the others, staring in bewildered disappointment.

"I think he does remember," the doe whispered quietly to the buck, in the present. That brought Ronno back, and he saw that they'd reached the thicket of trees on the far side of the meadow. Here, many more creatures were gathered around. Some deer, some rabbits, two adult skunks and their child, and other animals he didn't bother to absorb. Then there was that owl once again, above all the other creatures, staring down at him with those big, kooky yellow eyes.

"Remember us, Ronno," they all called, willing him on. "Remember us!"

Ronno stared hard at them. Now the more he did, the more familiar they all seemed. Taking a cue upon herself, an aging doe stepped out from the crowd and approached him. "Ronno, surely you remember me, dear?" Her voice was sad, but hopeful.

As Ronno stared at this new doe, another flashback occurred. He could remember lying down next to her on a sunny afternoon, listening to her heartbeat as if he'd been able to hear it much more close up before, and was missing it. Then he recalled suckling her teats, filling his body with her delicious milk. A warm, happy feeling enveloped him, until he began to remember things which must have happened much later. An image popped up in his mind, in which he was advancing on that fawn he'd tried to outrun in the other memory, an angry, aggressive emotion broiling inside him, then heard the voice of this doe calling him from far away. "I'm coming! Ma, how many times do I have to tell you! Don't bother me when I'm tryin' ta make new friends!" Funny, it didn't seem like he was trying to be friendly to that fawn at all, if that was what he meant.

In the memory, the doe said, "Sorry, dear," in a genuinely apologetic way. Why was she _apologizing_? He'd just been very rude to her, and didn't mothers usually scold or punish their children when they behaved like that? Wait a minute… "Mother?" Ronno blinked, as if he'd heard himself speak for the first time. "M-Mom?"

Relief flooded the doe's eyes. "Yes Ronno, it's me," she smiled, then licked his face softly. Instead of being disgusted he found himself placated by the gesture, before it dawned on him that it had been done right before a large audience. "What are you looking at?" he snapped at the other creatures.

"Well, looks like he's back," someone called. Ronno, meanwhile, was pondering what all of this meant. Running with bucks, competing with a fawn, having a doe for a mother, home being the forest…wait…

"I'm - I'm a buck?" Ronno muttered out loud, frowning at his feet. Then he looked up into his mother's eyes. "I'm a buck? Mom? I'm really a buck?"

"Yes, darling. Yes, you are."

Now the memories came back in streams. He remembered growing up in the forest, he remembered constantly trying to compare himself to bucks far older than him, he remembered the warmth of summer, the beauty of the meadow, the falling leaves and declining food supply in autumn, the long, hunger-filled days of winter, and how it all cycled round again, as it always had and always would. He remembered now whom the faces he saw around him, watching him expectantly, were: The buck whom he'd met with the doe earlier was Bambi, now the Great Prince of the Forest after his father had passed the title down to him. The doe was Faline, the backbone of the reasons, Ronno realized, for the strange hostility he'd felt for Bambi in those memories, for each bore an attraction to her but she'd only reciprocated that of Bambi's. The rabbit who had tripped him while he was running was Thumper, a rabbit Bambi had been friends with since childhood, and who always encouraged him to fight back whenever Ronno had tried to challenge him. Thumper now joined a female rabbit and a litter of bunnies; it must be his mate and family. His sisters were also nearby, some with their mates and families as well. On the other side of the crowd were the aforementioned skunks, and one of them, the adult male, was Flower, another, quieter friend of Bambi's. So he had started a family too. And last but not least, there was the old owl up above - Friend Owl, everyone called him. He'd been a close friend and advisor to the Great Prince before Bambi, and now filled the same slot in Bambi's career.

Ronno conclusively realized that all his supposed "memories" as a human, or Man as the creatures of the forest were more inclined to call the race, were entirely fabricated. Somehow in his pleasure at receiving an inside glimpse of what Man's world was like, beyond the hunters the animals frequently encountered out here, he had allowed himself to expunge all knowledge of his true identity from his mind, living fully in the illusion of his disguise. Though he still bore the shape of Man, Ronno, as the wonder of his epiphany embarked on its waning path, started to feel more like his real self. And it showed. Drawing himself up straight, he strutted past his mother, and past all the other creatures, declaring, "Well. I suppose you'll all want to hear how my turn was?"

"Long overdue-hoo, it was!" came Friend Owl's voice, annoyed.

"What?" Ronno glared up at the owl disrespectfully.

"You were gone a week longer than you were supposed to be, Ronno. You do realize that?" Bambi asked, approaching him.

Ronno thought about it, and realized he was right. "Well, y'know ya can't experience Man's life in just one month!" He spoke with an air of haughty abandon, as if he were recounting the first time he'd noticed his antlers as a developing fawn.

"But we only get one month each," Bambi stated, more harshly. Now that Ronno was no longer paranoid and bewildered there was no need for extending emotional charity to him. "It was Faline's turn after yours and you've made her miss a week!"

"Well, your Highness, what do you suggest I do?" Ronno challenged, looking Bambi directly in the eye.

Faline came up to her mate before he could respond, saying, "Bambi, it won't make any difference, anyway."

Bambi looked at his beloved mate and sighed. She was right. He and Ronno could quarrel all they wanted, and it would not bring Faline's first week back. Besides, his father had taught him long ago, when he was in training to take his place, not to dwell on the past, but to look to the future.

"Well," Bambi said, "you'd better be on your way, Faline. Take care." The two of them then lovingly nuzzled, and kissed momentarily. Ronno felt a discomforting contortion in his chest upon seeing that, a relic of his old jealousy, but was distracted by another thought. "Faline?" he asked, approaching her.

"Yes?" she replied.

"Um, if you… If you meet a Woman, named Beverly Chatham: Yellow hair, blue eyes, out in the far side of the forest with a bunch of others - not hunting, just spendin' time out here" he reassured the other animals. Turning back to Faline, he continued, "Tell her that, um…" Ronno knew everyone was listening, and he didn't like being uncertain of what to say or how to say it with so many observing him. Beverly had been a pretty okay, in fact quite engaging female, however, and while it was not habitual for him to make amends for insults he'd delivered to anyone, he felt an irresistible need to tie up the loose ends between them, even second-handedly. Coming up close to Faline and whispering in her ear, he finished, "Tell her I wish her luck with her astrology course."

Faline was a bit puzzled, but said, "Don't worry, Ronno. If I find her, I'll tell her that."

Faline then bid everyone goodbye, and they all wished her well on her venture into the world of Man. After she'd departed, Ronno's mother came up to him and said, "Now, Ronno dear, weren't you going to tell us about how your time was?"

Ronno looked around at everyone once more. He noticed Friend Owl looking at him distastefully, and nonchalantly decided that he must still be miffed about when he'd called him stupid last night. He saw Thumper with his family, and remembered that he'd tripped him… he'd make sure to get even with him for that somewhere down the road, never mind that it had been the first step in bringing him to his senses. Grinning, he decided that now that he had the floor, and everyone was actually interested in what he had to say, rather than being forced to hear him out as it usually went, he would take advantage of it. "Ah yes, well. Man's a much stranger animal than any of us could ever realize out here…" At that point the whole party began walking through the forest together, listening intently to this inside glimpse at those strange creatures which could be so dangerous to them, but were so interesting nonetheless. As the sunlight rose in the sky and shone through the trees, anyone watching would have been perplexed to see that where there had been a man walking amidst a fleet of woodland creatures was now a tall, muscular, dark-furred buck.

/

"Where could he have gone?" Paul Chatham muttered. He and the others had searched for their missing companion all morning and for much of the afternoon.

"Wolves probably got the bastard in the night," Drake, the other university fellow, grumbled. As irksome as he felt about having to waste so much time looking for Ronno, he was a jokester by nature.

"We didn't hear any howling last night and besides, I thought there weren't any wolves in this part of the forest?" Beverly asked.

"Who really knows?" Paul replied to his sister. "All I know is Ronno's made us late for wrapping things up, and if we do ever find him, I'm gonna -"

"Excuse me!" A woman's voice called out. "Excuse me!"

"Um, can we help you, miss?" Paul called to the pretty young woman who approached them. Drake wolf-whistled, and Beverly and the other girls glared at him.

"Oh yes, I'm new around these parts and I seem to have lost my way," the light golden-brown haired woman with gentle, doe-like eyes said. "Could you help me get out of this forest?"

The teens and young adults thought her story a bit peculiar, but Paul said, "Sure thing, miss. Come with us."

"Oh, call me Faline," the woman smiled warmly.

As the party and their new companion made off, they explained to her that they'd lost a member of their group the night before, and described him briefly. Beverly was about to ask Faline if she'd seen him, when all of a sudden she saw a large buck with dark, umber-coloured fur staring out at them from the seclusion of the bushes. He was a gorgeous creature, to be sure, but what motivated her to gaze at him was his eyes, making contact directly with hers. If she didn't know better, she would have sworn they were the same eyes she'd looked into with scorn the night before, the eyes of the man she'd told off for insulting her astrological ambitions. She did not see Faline watching her gaze.

"Oh, I'm sure he'll be just fine. He probably knows the forest better than you think." Beverly wanted to note that Ronno had told the others this would be his first time out in the forest, but there was such a knowing quality to Faline's words that it, together with the uncanny male deer watching her, made her feel a bit too uneasy to say anything further on the matter.

In an effort to orchestrate events so she could carry out her promise, Faline then prompted Beverly with the question, "So, what are your interests, dear?"

"Hmm? Oh, I've recently become interested in astrology, I hope to study it when I enter university in September."

"Astrology? How interesting!"

As the two women made off, bringing up the rear of the somewhat unsettled company, the buck lingered for a while, staring after them, then slowly, almost regretfully, turned and made his way back through the forest.

**The end.**

**AN: "Ronno is now in his normal and natural state: a stag, a creature of the forest, who, for one month, was allowed to take on the characteristics of someone as **_**Homo sapien **_**as you and I. But this leads one to wonder, just how human are we? Who or what exactly are the people we greet casually as we go about our lives, or the people we align ourselves as colleagues, even close acquaintances, with? A rather good question to ask - particularly in the Twilight Forest."**

**Lol, so now anyone reading this who is familiar with the original "Twilight Zone" series will probably have guessed that this fanfic was based on the episode "The After Hours", starring Anne Francis. Wouldn't it be neat if something like this really happened… that is, if we knew about it?**


End file.
